Promise Keepers Event coming to UNI-Dome this summer

April 28, 2013

Promise Keepers, the men's Christian group founded by former University of Colorado Football Coach Bill McCartney, is again holding one of its six stadium events nationwide in Iowa this summer.

The event, scheduled for July 19 and 20, is estimated to draw more than 15,000 men and will be held in Cedar Falls at the UNI-Dome.

Promise Keepers held one of its events last year in Cedar Falls at the McLeod Center and due to the overwhelming commitment by the men attending last year to fill the UNI-Dome if Promise Keepers came back, officials decided to return this year. Cedar Falls is the only one of the six sites for Promise Keeper events in 2013 to be a repeat site from the prior year.

Article Photos

CONTRIBUTED PHOTOPictured is Bill McCartney, founder of the men’s Christian group, Promise Keepers. A national event will be held in Iowa July 19 and July 20 at the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls.

The two-day event will be highlighted by an appearance of McCartney himself who is scheduled as one of the event's speakers. In addition to McCartney, speakers include: Lincoln Brewster, Mike Silva, Mike Gungor, Raleigh Washington, Larry Acosta, Larry Jackson, Ed Barron, the One Body band and Nic Gonzales.

The event starts Friday evening, from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. July 19. On Saturday, the event is from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tickets are $69 for the two-day event (or as little as $49 if groups buy at least 10) and lunch is included with the ticket for the Saturday session.

Tickets may be purchased online at PromiseKeppers.org or by calling 866-776-6473. Churches are encouraged to buy tickets in blocks and to car pool.

"Way back before Promise Keepers had a name, we looked up the word integrity in Webster's Dictionary. He gave six definitions: 'utter sincerity, honesty, candor, not artificial, not shallow, no empty promises.'"

- Bill McCartney

Promise Keepers History

McCartney founded Promise Keepers along with Dave Wardell after traveling to a Fellowship of Christian Athletes banquet in 1990. McCartney had a vision to fill stadiums with men and feature spiritual speakers to help men become better husbands, fathers and sons.

Since 1990, Promise Keepers has held dozen of stadium events with as many as 50,000 or more men at an event. In 1997, an estimated one million men gathered on the Mall in Washington D.C. for a Promise Keeper event, the largest ever held.

However, in addition to the large stadium events, the key to the success for Promise Keepers according to McCartney is the small group Bible studies the organization helped spur around the nation. The groups generally meet weekly with 3-10 men and promise to try to become better men by being servants to their spouses and family. There are more than 30 of Promise Keeper small groups in the Marshalltown area.